The elements of a satisfactory IACUC protocol literature search are developing good keywords, searching appropriate databases, and communicating the quantity and quality of the search results. These important features work together to demonstrate how the principal investigator (PI) has done their due diligence to try to uncover any methods in the current scientific literature, including but not limited to experimental design, techniques, procedures, and animal species, that will reduce the number of animals used and the amount, length, and nature of the pain an animal will experience to the minimum necessary to provide good scientific results.
The results of a literature search are only as good as the terms used to find those results. IACUC protocol literature searches should show that the PI has looked for alternatives to painful procedures, made sure they are not duplicating an experiment that has already been done, and found literature to justify the number of animals used and procedures & pain the animals will experience.
Examples:
1) Regional canine heartworm study
a) Below are several ways to take key aspects of this research and create lists of keywords and synonyms:
| species | canine, dog |
| disease/organism | heartworm, dirofilaria immitis |
| methods/procedure | blood collection, venipuncture |
| study type | survey |
b) Combine synonyms together into search strings using the Boolean operator "OR". Use quotations to search for a specific phrase or group of words.
| canine OR dog |
| heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis" |
| "blood collection" OR venipuncture |
c) Combine smaller search strings together using the Boolean operator "AND" in order to narrow your results. Parentheses are used to group the synonyms together and let the database know which Boolean operators pertain to which terms, similar to the order of operations in math.
| (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis") |
| (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis") AND survey |
| (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis") AND ("blood collection" OR venipuncture) |
2) Analysis of lipidomics in tear fluid of cattle with pink eye
a) Brainstorming keywords and synonyms
| species | cow, cattle, bovine |
| disease/organism | pink eye, infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis, Moraxella |
| methods/procedure | tear fluid collection, cotton swab |
b) Combine synonyms into search strings
| cow OR cattle OR bovine |
| "pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella |
| "tear fluid" OR "tear fluid collection" OR "cotton swab" |
c) Combine search strings together
| (cow OR cattle OR bovine) AND ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella) |
| ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella) AND ("tear fluid" OR "tear fluid collection" OR "cotton swab") |
| (cow OR cattle OR bovine) AND ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella) AND ("tear fluid" OR "tear fluid collection" OR "cotton swab") |
LMU's IACUC requires the use of at least two databases for a protocol literature search. The content and coverage of these databases should be appropriate to the subject of the research or teaching protocol. Google Scholar is not an appropriate resource for an IACUC literature search.
A list of commonly used databases is available on this guide's Databases page.
Examples:
1) Regional canine heartworm study
PubMed and CAB Abstracts would be appropriate for this small animal research protocol.
2) Analysis of lipidomics in tear fluid of cattle with pink eye
PubMed, CAB Abstracts and AGRICOLA would be appropriate for this large animal research protocol. Of particular note, CAB Abstracts is especially useful for bovine-related research as it has Bovine Practioner indexed. PubMed does not.
Some indication of the number and quality of your search results should be included in the IACUC protocol. In the examples below, the PI's quantify their results for section 6 as they show their search strings. For the literature review narrative in section 7, they need to provide qualitative information about those results, citing sources where appropriate. An overview and examples of good and bad narratives can be found by going to the "Important Elements: Narrative" section of this guide or clicking on the following link: [link not yet available].
Examples:
1) Regional canine heartworm study
|
PubMed 1) (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis")- 1648 results 2) (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis") AND survey- 160 3) (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis") AND ("blood collection" OR venipuncture)- 6 CAB Abstracts 1) (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis")- 3541 2) (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis") AND survey- 554 3) (canine OR dog) AND (heartworm OR "dirofilaria immitis") AND ("blood collection" OR venipuncture)- 8 |
2) Analysis of lipidomics in tear fluid of cattle with pink eye
|
PubMed 1) (cow OR cattle OR bovine) AND ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella)- 377 hits 2) ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella) AND ("tear fluid" OR "tear fluid collection" OR "cotton swab")- 4 3) (cow OR cattle OR bovine) AND ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella) AND ("tear fluid" OR "tear fluid collection" OR "cotton swab")- 1 CAB Abstracts 1) (cow OR cattle OR bovine) AND ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella)- 857 2) ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella) AND ("tear fluid" OR "tear fluid collection" OR "cotton swab")- 12 3) (cow OR cattle OR bovine) AND ("pink eye" OR "infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis" OR Moraxella) AND ("tear fluid" OR "tear fluid collection" OR "cotton swab")- 0 |